Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo

129 reviews

melaniereadsbooks's review

challenging reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I am extremely conflicted on how to review this book. On the one hand, I can see logically that this was a good book.  The writing is interesting and it deals with a lot of heavy but important topics.  On the other hand, I really did not enjoy myself while reading it at all.

Part of this was because there was no plot to this story. It was more of a collection of character vignettes. If that's your thing, you should definitely read it.  I felt that this style really just made it feel like hundreds of pages of exposition.  I kept waiting for something to happen and it never did.

Another problem I had (I'm also conflicted saying this) was that I felt when this book showed some of the negative internal thoughts of characters (things that were racist, transphobic, bullying, hateful, etc) it never really expounded about what was wrong. And they weren't things that were very obviously wrong, they were more subtle. This left me with a feeling like some of these thoughts were the authors instead of just the characters.  Again, logically, I don't think the author feels that way, but it just left a bad feeling for me.

Overall, I think this is worth checking out, but it just wasn't my thing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Homophobia, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, and Infidelity

Moderate: Transphobia

debookgeek's review

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Rape, Addiction, Xenophobia, Transphobia, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexism, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Infidelity, Homophobia, Drug use, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Deadnaming, and Child death

Moderate: Bullying and Domestic abuse

Minor: Cancer

zombiezami's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I generally enjoy books that jump from one perspective to another, and this is no exception. I liked slowly realizing how each of the characters connected with the others. I will admit, however, that some of the narratives ran together, and some narratives were a lot more fleshed out than others. 

The one thing I didn't like flat out was the way trans topics were handled in the book. I thought it was great to read about Morgan's understanding of themselves and their loving long-term relationship. However, the other characters in the book repeated anti-trans talking points almost completely unchallenged. Given the growing anti-trans sentiment in Britain in particular, plus the fact that so few cis people claim to know anyone who is trans or be informed on trans issues, I felt that this was not a responsible way to frame these conversations. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Homophobia, Transphobia, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Racism, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Infidelity, Grief, Xenophobia, and Biphobia

Moderate: Animal death, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Racial slurs, Hate crime, Police brutality, Adult/minor relationship, Infertility, Child death, Child abuse, Mental illness, Cursing, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Toxic relationship, Violence, Incest, Islamophobia, and Medical content

Minor: Antisemitism, Vomit, Forced institutionalization, Self harm, and Mass/school shootings

bronzeageholly's review

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Death, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, and Transphobia

Moderate: Grief, Infidelity, Deadnaming, Alcoholism, and Drug use

friendlyneighborhoodidiot's review

emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual assault, and Drug use

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Child death and Deadnaming

bodiesinbooks's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Transphobia, Violence, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Rape, Racism, Miscarriage, Infidelity, and Homophobia

Moderate: Fatphobia and Xenophobia

rosh's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Rape, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Drug use, Homophobia, Racism, Racial slurs, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Transphobia

Minor: Deadnaming

grtwrrn's review

emotional funny hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Drug use

will_meringue's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Racism, Rape, Domestic abuse, Transphobia, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Deadnaming

Minor: Drug use

ifersinklings's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

 Overall, this story was interesting. I don't know that I understood half of it, but I enjoyed learning about the characters, their lives, and figuring out how all of them connected with each other. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Bullying, Child death, Deadnaming, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Transphobia